n and the Natural History
Museum in New York, and in the Santa Fe Palace, and the Field Museum of
Chicago. Sometimes as many as four feet of erosion have overlaid the
original flooring. When digging down to the flooring of the ceremonial
cave, an _estufa_ or sacred secret underground council chamber was
found; and this, too, was restored. The pueblo of roofless chambers seen
from the hilltop on the floor of the valley was dug from a mound of
debris. In fact, too great praise cannot be given Dr. Hewitt and his
co-workers for their labors of restoration; and the fact that Dr. Hewitt
was a local man has added to the effectiveness of the work, for he has
been in a position to learn from New Mexican Indians of any discoveries
and rumors of discoveries in any of the numerous caves up the Rio
Grande. For instance, when about halfway down the trail that first day,
at the Frijoles Canyon or Rito de los Frijoles, as it is called, I met on
an abrupt bend in the trail a Pueblo Indian from Santa Clara--blue jean
suit, red handkerchief around neck, felt hat, huge silver earrings and
teeth white as pearls--Juan Gonzales, one of the workers in the canyon,
who knows every foot of the Rio Grande. Standing against the white
pumice background, it was for an instant as if one of the cave people
had stepped from the past. Well, it was Wan, as we outsiders call him,
who one day brought word to the Archaeological workers that he had found
in the pumice dust in one of the caves the body of a woman. The cave was
cleaned out or restored, and proved to be a back apartment or burial
chamber behind other chambers, which had been worn away by the
centuries' wash. The cerements of the body proved to be a woven cloth
like burlap, and beaver skin. There you may see the body lying to-day,
proving that these people understood the art of weaving long before the
Flemings had learned the craft from Oriental trade.

You could stay in the Rito Canyon for a year and find a cave of fresh
interest each day. For instance, there is the one where the form of a
huge plumed serpent has been etched like a molding round under the
arched roof. The serpent, it was, that guarded the pools and the
springs; and when one considers where snakes are oftenest found, it is
not surprising that the serpent should have been taken as a totem
emblem. Many of the chambers show six or seven holes in the
floor--places to connect with the Great Earth Magician below. Little
alcoves were ca